SDG: No Poverty
Our commitment
The Namibia University of Science and Technology (NUST) is committed to advancing Sustainable Development Goal 1 (SDG 1): the eradication of poverty in all its forms. This commitment is demonstrated through the University’s focus on quality education, impactful research, and community service programmes that empower individuals and communities. The NUST Strategic Plan (2021–2025) embodies this alignment with national and global development goals by prioritizing a student-centered approach and establishing resilient systems that guarantee sustainable and equitable access to education for all students.
As a leading University of Science and Technology, NUST contributes to poverty reduction through the following three pillars:
- Quality Education – Through its commitment to quality teaching and learning, NUST imparts relevant knowledge and practical competencies that empower graduates to access employment and entrepreneurship opportunities, thereby advancing Namibia’s socioeconomic development.
- Research and Innovation – NUST is committed to conducting applied research that addresses national and societal challenges, including food insecurity. The resulting research outputs and innovations provide sustainable solutions that improve livelihoods and inform evidence-based policy decisions.
- Community Engagement and Service – As part of its core service delivery pillars, NUST undertakes community outreach initiatives aimed at extending its services to marginalized and vulnerable groups.
UNIVERSITY ANTI-POVERTY PROGRAMMES
Targets to admit students who fall into the bottom 20% of the household income group (or a more tightly defined target) in the country.
The Namibian Higher Education Act 26 of 2003 section 33 stipulates that the Minister must, after consultation with the National Council for Higher Education (NCHE) and with the concurrence of the Minister responsible for finance, determine the policy on the funding of public higher education institutions. Allocation of funds to public higher education institutions 34. (1) The Minister must, from moneys appropriated by Parliament for such purpose but subject to the policy determined in terms of section 33, allocate funds to public higher education institutions on - (a) a fair and transparent basis; and (b) such reasonable conditions as the Minister may determine. (2) Different conditions may be determined under subsection (1) in respect of different public higher education institutions, but only if there is a reasonable basis for such differentiation.
Namibia is a lower-middle-income country and as such the majority of the students come from poor background. NUST’s national footprint extends across Namibia, ensuring accessibility and inclusivity in education. With our main campus as the cornerstone in Windhoek, we’ve strategically established satellite campuses in three key regions, namely, !Karas, Otjozondjupa and Ohangwena.
NUST employs comprehensive financial need assessments during the aid application process to identify and support students from the lowest household income brackets, ensuring equitable access to higher education. Students from marginalised populations (ethnic groups such as the San and Ovahimba) - not only do they get admitted, but they also receive financial assistance. These are community groups disproportionately tormented by poverty, compared to other groups in Namibia. This narrates a successful story:
As per the general admission policy, NUST uses a points-based admission system, where applicants are evaluated based on their Matric results. The general minimum requirement is 25 points in five subjects, however, bridging programmes accept students with 22 points. These programmes are designed to help students who may not meet the standard entry requirements, which could indirectly support students from disadvantaged backgrounds.
Student Enrolment, 2024
| FACULTY NAME | 2021 | 2022 | 2023 | 2024 |
| Faculty of Commerce, Human Sciences and Education | 7,858 | 8,300 | 9,306 | 10,451 |
| Faculty of Computing and Informatics | 1,671 | 1,868 | 2,362 | 2,673 |
| Faculty of Engineering and the Built Environment | 2,454 | 2,447 | 2,932 | 3,100 |
| Faculty of Health, Natural Resources and Applied Sciences | 1,596 | 1,764 | 2,009 | 2,261 |
| Grand Total | 13,579 | 14,379 | 16,609 | 18,485 |
Graduation/completion targets for students who fall into the bottom 20% of household income group (or a more tightly defined target) in the country? (domestic)
NUST assists students by offering financial assistance to alleviate the financial burden, allowing them to focus on their academic journey, and subsequently leading to higher graduation rates. These initiatives reflect our vision of being a premier technological university known for knowledge creation, innovation, and entrepreneurship.
The Faculty of Health, Natural Resources and Applied Sciences has a Mathematics Tutoring Centre that strives to provide a favourable learning environment and support system for students in order for them to gain a better understanding of mathematical and statistical concepts. Students can acquire Free tutorial support for all mathematics and statistics courses at the centre.
Faculty of Natural Resources and Applied Sciences 
AfricaOnline Team
2024 Graduation
NUST celebrated the remarkable achievement of 3,591 students who graduated in 2024, a testament to their commitment and dedication. The graduates represent a diverse range of disciplines, as illustrated in the table below.
Graduates by Qualification Type and Sex 2024
| Qualification Obtained | Female | Male | Total |
| Certificate | 132 | 125 | 257 |
| Diploma | 175 | 147 | 322 |
| Bachelor Degree | 779 | 686 | 1465 |
| Professional Bachelor Degree | 91 | 77 | 168 |
| Integrated Bachelor Honours | 15 | 14 | 29 |
| Bachelor Honours Degree | 529 | 336 | 865 |
| Postgraduate Certificate | 16 | 11 | 27 |
| Postgraduate Diploma | 146 | 62 | 208 |
| Master Degree | 135 | 103 | 238 |
| Doctoral Degree | 5 | 7 | 12 |
| Grand Total | 2023 | 1568 | 3591 |
Success among funded students
A total number of graduates benefited from the NSFAF support. The rest were funded through other funding schemes. This vital support enabled many students from households in the lowest income quintile to access education, overcome socioeconomic barriers, and achieve academic excellence.
Academic Awards
The NUST Vice-Chancellor's Medal is an award given to recognize outstanding academic achievement, typically for top-performing students at their graduation. Mr Verry Tangeni Ndasilohenda Awene, who stood on the brink of a significant milestone, received the Vice-Chancellor Medal Award upon his graduation with a bachelor’s degree in computer science, specialising in Cybersecurity. NUST Graduate of 2024 attains Vice-Chancellor Awardee status:
Support (e.g. food, housing, transportation, legal services) for students from low-income families to enable them to complete university.
Under the new Strategic Plan (2021–2025), NUST has restructured its student services to adopt innovative approaches and better support student learning and development.
Student Services are designed to contribute to the overall well-being of students, encompassing their health, social, academic, career, sports, cultural, moral, intellectual, and physical aspects. It creates an environment that complements the central teaching and research mission of NUST, while building within each student a sense of personal worth, self-confidence, and a sense of community.
A Student Welfare Fund (SWF) was established to provide financial support for students who may need financial assistance for various reasons. It is part of the University’s commitment to widen access and support student success. The Fund gets funded through staff contributions and fundraising initiatives through the Department of Student Services (DSS). The Fund provides limited emergency financial assistance to currently enrolled NUST students who are unable to meet immediate, essential expenses because of temporary hardship related to an unexpected situation. The fund is designated to offset a short-term financial need and is not intended to replace or supplement financial aid. Funds are awarded as a loan or as a grant.
Social Welfare Guide for Flexible Learning
Areas that are supported through the SWF:
- facilitate university subsidized daily transportation and hostel accommodation.
- provide healthy daily meals to students.
- introduce subsidized medical referrals, i.e. doctors, dentists, opticians, especially for students with special needs.
- provision of monthly vanity bags containing essential toiletries.
- better structured financial support that can cover tuition and other expenses; and
- facilitate the provision of dedicated comfortable spaces set aside for students’ use, i.e. study spaces, showers etc.
Programmes or initiatives to assist students who fall into the bottom 20% of household income group (or a more tightly defined target) in the country to complete their studies.
NUST is committed to widening access to higher education through comprehensive financial support systems for students in need. The primary sources of aid are:
- Namibia Students Financial Assistance Fund (NSFAF)
- NUST Student Welfare Fund (SWF)
The mandate of NSFAF in terms of Act 26 of 2000 is to provide financial assistance in the form of a loan/grant to eligible students at approved institutions of higher learning.
The Student Welfare Fund provides emergency financial assistance to currently enrolled NUST students who are unable to meet essential expenses because of economic hardships. This includes better structured financial support that can cover tuition to enable students to complete their studies. In addition, DSS facilitates sponsorships for special needs, e.g., special medical treatment. https://www.nust.na/dss/social-welfare
Schemes to support poor students from low or lower-middle income countries (e.g. offering free education, grants).
The University actively seeks opportunities to support students from disadvantaged backgrounds by responding to calls for funding proposals. Some of these opportunities focus on capacity development through scholarships and mobility programmes. These initiatives not only enhance access to higher education but also promote academic collaboration and knowledge exchange across Africa.
Currently, we have a SASSCAL Graduate School Programme funded by the German Government through the Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF). The objective of this programme is to develop and deploy an innovative and excellent regional collaborative education and research programme at the PhD level in different specialisations under the theme Integrated Water Resource Management. https://sgsp-iwrm.nust.na/
Additionally, FRAME, an EU-funded Project, is an INTRA-AFRICA Mobility Programme that is coordinated by NUST and funds students from African Countries to study at African Universities that are part of the consortium. https://frame.nust.na/home
The Grow Green Africa (Gr2A) project equips PhD students, Master of Science students, and trainees from the Southern African region with competencies in green computing technologies. This project is part of the Intra-Africa Academic Mobility Scheme Initiative funded by the European Commission. https://gr2a.org/
COMMUNITY ANTI-POVERTY PROGRAMMES
Empowering Start-Ups at NUST
Assistance in the local community supporting the start-up of financially and socially sustainable businesses through relevant education or resources (e.g., mentorship programmes, training workshops, access to university facilities).
The Namibia University of Science and Technology (NUST) is dedicated to nurturing innovation and entrepreneurship by equipping start-ups with the skills and support needed to achieve their business goals. Through initiatives such as Business Incubation, Inspire to Start-Ups, Business Idea Competitions, and Boost-Up Events, NUST provides a vibrant platform for aspiring entrepreneurs to grow and connect.
- The Boost-Up Event serves as one of the key drivers of the start-up ecosystem, offering NUST start-ups valuable exposure to continental and international networks.
- The Inspire to Start-Up programme is an accelerator designed to inform, inspire, and empower individuals—particularly NUST students from all faculties—to develop sustainable business ventures. The programme focuses on two main areas:
o Capacity Building: Participants receive training in areas such as Ideation (Idea Creation, Innovate Your Idea, and Idea Assessment), Market Research, Business Modelling, and Pitch Presentation. The programme also includes Intellectual Property (IP) Training to emphasize the importance of protecting innovative ideas. In addition, students have access to FabLab, a state-of-the-art facility where they can design, prototype, and refine their products before launch.
o Start-Up Assessment: High-potential business ideas are evaluated for incubation opportunities, helping participants move from concept to implementation.
Business Incubation is designed to provide entrepreneurs with all the support to make technology-based and other business ventures successful. The highly innovative and productive environment of business incubation provides entrepreneurs with the right ambiance to build ventures at international standards. It is not only restricted to high-tech startups with technology products and innovations, but to all entrepreneurs with high potential that are serious about working on their product ideas and boosting them to come up with a “Market viable prototype”.
Financial assistance to the local community supporting the start-up of financially and socially sustainable businesses.
No financial assistance is provided to communities. However, Communities benefit from initiatives through donor-funded Projects.
Programmes for services access: Training or programmes to improve access to basic services for all.
The NUST-SEED Living Lab: Just south of Groot Aub, the NUST-SEED Living Lab is driving innovation in renewable energy and community development. Established by NUST in collaboration with the Technical University of Munich (TUM) through the Sustainable Energy and Entrepreneurship Development (SEED) Centre, the lab stands as a beacon of sustainability and empowerment in the heart of !Kharoxas, a rural community. The community benefited from the installation of a 20kWp Solar PV plant, which provided access to electricity for the community, a Borehole solar water pump installation with a water storage tank, and Entrepreneurial activities, namely a poultry-house and an egg incubator, the acquisition of marula tree seedlings, a Bush feed crush machine to make feedstock, and a community garden. The lab has since grown into a hands-on research and innovation hub, engaging students, researchers, and local entrepreneurs in advancing energy access and sustainable development.
https://www.nust.na/nust-seed-living-lab-powering-change
TECHNOVATION PARK: To accelerate innovation and product, NUST has adopted the Science and Technology (technology + innovation = Technovation) Parks.
https://www.nust.na/sites/default/files/docs-forms/NUST-Luderitz-Satelite-Campus-Flyer.pdf
https://www.nust.na/nust-and-thensa-ignite-southern-africas-entrepreneurial-spirit
POLICY ADDRESSING POVERTY
Participation in policy making at local, regional, national and/or global level to implement programmes and policies to end poverty in all its dimensions.
With the University’s strategy aligned to national development frameworks such as the Vision 2030, National Development Plans (NDPs), NUST takes part in stakeholders’ consultative meetings to contribute to the development and/or review of national policies.
https://www.npc.gov.na/national-plans/vision-2030/
https://www.npc.gov.na/national-plans/national-plans-ndp-6/
Local
The Institute for Land, Livelihoods and Housing (ILLH), a centre at the Namibia University of Science and Technology (NUST), coordinates and enables transdisciplinary research, outreach, and education around these key themes in the fields of ‘land, livelihoods and housing’.
Recognizing the interlinkages between food, energy, and water security, NUST has prioritized the Food-Energy-Water Nexus as a key research theme. Through this focus, the University works to tackle local challenges of food insecurity and malnutrition. Complementing this effort, NUST researchers continue to investigate the underlying causes and patterns of poverty in Namibia to support evidence-based solutions for sustainable development.
https://ir.nust.na/server/api/core/bitstreams/7460c5cd-fe67-4fa4-9870-5946281ddcca/content
Regional
NUST supports the Southern African Development Community (SADC)’s regional agenda to reduce poverty through collaborative research, strategic partnerships, and community-focused projects. In alignment with the Regional Indicative Strategic Development Plan (RISDP2020 – 2030), NUST provides evidence-based insights that inform policymaking and strengthen institutional capacity. These efforts demonstrate the University’s commitment to advancing inclusive and sustainable development across the region.
National
NUST participated in the formulation of the National Development Plan 6 through the Stakeholders’ consultative workshops. By aligning the Institution’s activities with SDG 1, NUST plays a central role in fostering social transformation and building a more equitable and poverty-free Namibia.
Namibia has a Social Protection Policy, anchored on Article 95 of Namibia’s Constitution, which compels the Government to actively promote equal opportunity and the well-being of all citizens. Namibia’s long-term policy framework, Vision 2030, aims to create a high-income, industrialised, politically stable, harmonious and successful society with income equity and equitable opportunity. Namibia’s government-funded social protection system is one of the most developed in Africa. The Government has affirmed its commitment to social protection by significantly expanding its financial commitment to social protection programmes over time.
The country’s old–age and child grants are among the key cash transfer programmes that have had the greatest impact in reducing poverty.
Global
NUST participates in programmes aimed at reducing poverty at global level.
- The Stress Tolerant Orphan Legumes (STOL) programme was established in 2018 under the Kirkhouse Trust in partnership with the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) to facilitate the introduction and exchange of stress-tolerant orphan legume varieties among Indian and African institutions to address climate change and nutrition security. The project developed a protocol to facilitate the free exchange of crops germplasm identified for STOL under the Standard Material Transfer Agreement (SMTA) among nine African countries (Burkina Faso, Ghana, Kenya, Mali, Namibia, Niger, Nigeria, Tanzania and Uganda) and India. https://www.kirkhousetrust.org/stress-tolerant-orphan-legumes-stol
- Revenue Diversification Pathways in Africa through Bio-Based and Circular Agricultural Innovations (DIVAGRI) is a European Union funded Project coordinated by Hochschule Wismar, that aims to increase the productivity, income and economic opportunities of farmers in arid and semi-arid regions of Sub-Saharan Africa by implementing innovative bio-based solutions that will improve agricultural production, enable diversification of crops and increase added-value, create sustainability, and generate new local economic opportunities. DIVAGRI |
